In impoverished Baghdad under Saddam's dictatorship, 16-year-old Amal hopes to regain her social status at school by volunteering to find a book as a class gift for the departing literature teacher. Meanwhile, her emotionally fragile little brother becomes obsessed with the notion that a visiting uncle from America--whom he confuses with Santa Claus--will bring him toys. Ashamed never to have been able to give his son a toy, the child's father sells some more prized family possessions and buys a model car for him.

72 Hours: True Crime focuses on crime, specifically on the first 72 hours after a crime is committed, a critical time period for solving it. Rather than focus on fictional crimes, as do Law & Order and other TV shows elsewhere, True Crime depicted actual crimes that occurred throughout Canada, using dramatic reenactments and documentary-style footage of crime scenes.